Start Anew
by Mokyn
Summary: Nine experiences snow for the first time, and the others share a memory. Originally made for a holiday contest.


Originally published December 2009, and finally being moved here as well. I think I actually won Best Romance for the contest I entered, which I find personally funny since this is gen as heck. Also in this story I wanted to play with the idea of 3 and 4 having a younger brother/older sister relationship. This was copied from the original DA publication, apologies if there are any formatting errors.

-x-

Seven woke to hands shaking her shoulders and Nine whispering anxiously, "Seven. Seven, wake up."

She bolted up, nearly hitting Nine in the face, he was so close to her. "What is it?" Her hearing sensors were already straining to pick up sounds of a beast or any other potential threat, but she heard nothing. Everything was eerily quiet.

She looked to Nine, who only said, "I think I've gone blind."

Seven restrained herself from laughing at the terror in his voice. "Don't worry, I see it too," she assured him.

Everything around them was covered in white, and she could see Three and Four running around, drawing in the stuff with a piece of wood. The rotting wood above Seven and Nine creaked and strained under the weight of the snow, and for some reason this didn't worry her. On the contrary, she felt relaxed listening to that small amount of noise, as if everything was right with the world.

Nine stepped lightly over the snow, every part of him tensed as if he expected to fall through it. "What is all this?" he asked.

Three and Four shared a quick look, eyes already flashing at ludicrous speed. They rushed over to Nine, their drawing completely forgotten. They gestured excitedly, moving their hands as if turning over a marble, and Four even tried to project an image to Nine but he covered his eyes before he was blinded for the second time.

Three looked over at Seven, almost demanding with her expression for Seven to say what they couldn't.

Seven told Nine, "They already explained this to me awhile ago. It must be winter now, or at least close to since this is a rather small snowfall according to human records."

Nine's face lit up with comprehension as he let out a soft "Oh!" as the long ago human memory clicked in his mind. Then something seemed to dawn on him and he looked down at the twins who were still huddled close to him from their try at sharing knowledge.

"But what about the plants?" he asked them. "They'll be fine, right?"

The twins immediately rubbed their hands over his arms and back in reassurance, while Seven stood beneath the snow-covered roof with no idea what to say. Over the past few months, Nine has been caring for the emerging plant life, making sure the stems were straight and even moving a few if he was afraid they might be crushed by falling debris.

Seven walked towards Nine and rested a hand on his shoulder. He gave a small smile, and she asked as gently as she could, "Would you like to keep going? There's still a lot of the city we haven't explored yet."

Three and Four nodded and pulled him forward a bit. The group of four survivors set off through the ruins, staying close to each other, the only bits of colour within the expanse of white.

Nine wouldn't let the subject drop. "If a house provided enough shelter, it would protect a flower from the cold, wouldn't it? We're still alive in this weather so it can't be that bad."

Seven shook her head. "But we're not natural, the world doesn't affect us the same way. The plants are supposed to come back when winter's over, but I've not seen it. Most things were killed by the machines before we saw snow."

Three and Four grinned, and Nine's face got that same undying curious look that she'd seen so often.

"You've really seen this before?"

She nodded.

"What was it like, back when the humans were still alive?"

Seven was quiet a moment as the twins flickered images and recordings to each other. The way Nine sounded as he asked the question reminded her of how young he was; though he'd been through a lot in his short life, he hadn't seen as much as his kin.

"I'm not sure if the humans were still alive at that point," She finally said. "It was quiet aside from the occasional sound from machines." She paused, trying to figure out how to word the next part. "As weird as this sounds though, it was fun. For us, at least."

"I didn't think living with One was something that could be fun."

"This was before he began trying to control our every move. I'm not sure how to explain it. Three?"

Nine was surprised to see even Four turned his head in response, as if the two had spent so much time together they didn't think of themselves as separate people anymore.

Seven asked them, "Can you show Nine what it was like when we first saw snow?"

They both nodded vigorously then took Nine and Seven's hands, pulling them inside a ruined house. They hurried through the rubble, stopping at places to inspect them, then shaking their heads and moving on. Finally they reached a back room that had barely any light in it, seeing as the only window was covered with blowing snow. Wind whistled by gaps in the glass as Nine looked around at his companions, undisturbed within their shelter. It was a nice feeling, he realized, this sense of closeness and ease.

Four motioned for Nine and Seven to sit, then went to stand beside his sister who smiled as if she was a ring master about to introduce an astounding performance. She then turned to the wall and began projecting a recording.

-x-

Three sat on One's throne, swinging her legs in a bored fashion as her brother stood below her, wringing his hands and glancing back at the exit. He really didn't need to be that nervous. They had both seen One and Eight leave only moments before, and they knew it would be awhile until they came back.

For now Three wondered why One had created this room. Sitting there, she didn't feel powerful or like a leader. Truthfully the height scared her, like the ground was miles below her feet and she was stuck there, or else she'd fall.

Four continued to pester her, finally losing all sense of patience, and tugged on her ankles. She kicked her feet hard enough to shake him off but not enough to hurt him. She took one last around the room, then nervously hopped down. Four smiled and took her hand, guiding her towards the elevator.

As they walked, they passed by Six's room and Three could see him sitting and scribbling away as he did every day. Three pulled away from Four and went into the tented area, apertures opening more to let in the light. How could Six stand to be in here all the time? It was small and dim, and both the twins felt claustrophobic at the thought of spending days there. But Six seemed to like it, drawing circles and other strange designs to pass the time.

Three walked in front of Six, startling the younger doll into finally noticing them. If they had waited for him to notice on his own, they would have been there for awhile.

Six gave a small smile and a quiet, "Hello," to the both of them. Three extended her hand out to him, but he didn't take it. He looked to her hand and her face, not understanding her. Four caught on and motioned to the tower's exit.

Six's voice was hesitant as he said, "You want me to come downstairs with you?"

Still holding her hand out, Three nodded. Six shook his head and went back to drawing. "I want to stay here," he said.

Three dropped her hand and went to her brother's side. This wouldn't do at all, there was a lot more to do away from this stuffy little attic, and the two decided Six was in some desperate need of some fun.

Four moved behind Six and began pushing him as Three took the drawing he'd been working on and rolled it up. The striped doll gave a small cry of surprise, but didn't put up much of a fight otherwise.

Three and Four pulled the ropes to pull the bucket up as Six stood behind them, rubbing his hands almost absently over the key around his neck. When the elevator reached the top the twins hopped in and he followed, beginning to relax as they all descended.

They reached the bottom and the twins glanced to Six, grinning as they saw his face take on a look of awe. Three had known he'd like the look of the place now.

Piles of snow had come in through the hole in the roof, some flakes still floating and glittering in the sunlight. Five and Two were with One and Eight, talking about something as Seven wandered around the edge of the snowdrift, occasionally kicking up softer patches.

One's voice echoed through the room as the trio headed over. "I really don't care if you think it's harmless, Two. We have no idea what type of effect it could have on us, and I'd like to come up with a plan to get rid of it."

Two chuckled. "You do know how to overreact to everything, don't you, One? Seven and I have spent most of the day wandering around outside and we're perfectly fine, as you can see."

Seven looked up at the mention of her name, and Three and Four waved to her. Four then pointed to the ground and quickly kneeled down, sculpting the snow into a ball. Seven came over to him, and after Four held his round creation in front of her, she smiled in a devious way. She also made a snowball, and held it behind her back as she walked over to where One and Two were still arguing.

With a small flick of her wrist, Seven sent the snowball flying in an arc through the air, where it landed squarely on One's head. He spluttered and turned angrily to see the warrior standing behind him.

"Must have fallen from the roof," Seven said without missing a beat, and the twins held their hands to their mouths to stop from visibly laughing. Six let out a small laugh and then returned to drawing in the snow, going slowly so he wouldn't break his fragile fingers.

Seven came back over the the twins and asked them, "Is there anything else we could make from this stuff?"

Three ran through all the data she'd collected of human statues, hearing her brother doing the same, then nodded. They made another snowball, but this time rolled it along the ground as it picked up more snow.

Five and Eight tentatively joined in, leaving One still glaring after Seven and straightening his hat. Two patted his shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with letting them have a little fun," he said.

One's only reply was a "hrmph!" as he went to sit on the part of the floor that was far from the snowdrift.

Though it took awhile for most of them to get any ideas for sculptures, seeing as Two and Six were the only real creatives ones in the group, they all soon had a collection of things to show, including deformed mice, houses, and a sort of round thing that Two and the twins assured them was called a snowman. It didn't make a lot of sense, since the snowmen were very fat around the bottom and had no arms or legs. In all honesty, they looked like what they were: three snowballs of varying sizes on top of one another.

Six only made one thing aside from his scribblings, a ball that he rolled over to One. The leader ignored it and Six returned to what he'd been doing. Two sighed at the exchange and went over to speak to One, picking up the snowball and sitting by his older brother.

Seven and Eight began rolling a giant snowball across the drift, determined to show everyone they could make a snow-house so big the dolls could have stepped inside them. Four and Five were busy trying to convince Six not to draw in the snow and to clean out the pen nibs as Three walked around, wanting to record everything as best she could. When she came close to One and Two, she stopped, curious to know what they were talking about. She stood in what she hoped was a good place, close enough to catch their faces out of the corner of her eye, but not noticeable enough for them to know she was watching them.

One looked as grumpy as always as he said, "I still don't think this is a good idea. What if this causes our inner workings to rust or short circuit? Then how fun is it?"

Two shrugged slightly. "Living never killed anyone, you know that."

And then One smiled. Not a lot, but enough for even Three, positioned where she was, to notice.

"You never were good with words."

Two set the snowball down on the ground and patted One's shoulder like he so often did. "You talk enough for the both of us," he countered.

The two men didn't say anything after that, just watched the younger ones have a moment that wasn't filled with fear.

Three didn't know what to think of this. She stopped recording after that.

-x-

The footage flickered off, and Three collapsed against her brother, completely exhausted.

Everything was quiet aside from the wind that whistled by the house. Finally Nine spoke.

"Things seemed good then."

Seven nodded slowly. "Sad thing is, I can't even remember how the day ended. I think Six nearly had an anxiety attack over something, but I'd rather think the day went well until night fell."

Three sat huddled by her brother, body cooling down from the projection quicker than usual because of the weather, which she didn't mind. The after effects always had her feeling sick, and the sooner that ended, the happier she was.

There was another long stretch of quiet before Nine asked nervously, "What happened?"

Seven stood up before answering, "Life. It's hard to spend a lot of time cooped up around so many different personalities, especially when One was such an extremist." She moved towards the door to outside, then looked back to Three, "Are you feeling better?" Three nodded and also got up. "Good, I'd like to keep moving."

Nine hadn't realized until that moment how dark Seven seemed in contrast to the snow. While the world had its bruises covered up and starting to heal, Seven still had dirt from all her years of rebelling, and the red patch on her back contrasted too much with everything outside.

Nine and the twins followed her, happy at least they no longer had to check for machines. As Seven walked out the door, something landed on her head, nearly knocking her over and making her yelp in surprise. She shook some of the snow off her and turned to her friends, almost as if expecting them to explain they'd thrown it at her.

Nine pointed up. "I think it came from up there."

Seven looked up to the roof above the door, then laughed so loud it echoed in the emptiness as the white began to melt into her fabric.

Still chuckling, she said, "No need to look so terrified, Nine. I think its time we taught you how to have some fun."


End file.
